Learning Vocabulary Through Creative Writing
The importance of good vocabulary is instrumental in developing talent as a writer. Finding the right words for every situation, the words that evoke the images you want, the feelings you desire, can be a difficult challenge. Constantly expanding your vocabulary can be a difficult task however, and while some people suggest trying to use a new word every day, I thought it would be entertaining to bring this practice into writing. To help build your writing vocabulary, require yourself to use new words in your free writes and exploratory pieces.
This experiment can be done any way you like. Whether you go to dictionary.com and get their word of the day, flip through the dictionary and pick a random word, or take note of words you hear each day, but don't fully understand, you want to compile a collection of words you don't know. When you plan on doing your next free write, review those words, look up their meanings, and try and work them into your story. Using them in writing will embed them in your mind, and will increase the likelihood of you using these words in future pieces. Of course, it's worth using the words in normal activities as well to solidify them in your mind, but every little bit helps.
Not only can you use this technique in order to improve your vocabulary, you can also use it as a different type of writing prompt. When you're looking to do a free write, but lack a clear direction for what you'd like to write, grab a collection of vocabulary words. With the list of words in front of you, your mind will start whirring as you try and think about the type of story that might use these words and the meaning they entail. This creates a great win-win situation for you, as you're able to use new vocabulary to improve your writing, and you get a great new writing prompt to help inspire your next piece.
Give it a try, this activity is great because it's very low maintenance with a lot of long term potential. It works well in a classroom as an assignment for students, and is a fun activity for people to do on their own. Everyone can stand to learn a few more words, and who knows, you might just stumble across the perfect title for your next book, or the word that captures a feeling you've had far too often. Feel free to share your own efforts with this writing style and we will gladly post them for everyone to see.
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